logsinthenight | EVENT CONCLUSION: BEYOND THE SEA

characters: everyone!!
location: in the helix station under the lake, and back to the surface! (hopefully)
date/time: july 19th ish
content: After successfully exploring the Helix Station, characters have all they need to deal with the world eater stuck in the portal down below. How are they going to do it? Click and find out!
warnings: injury, body horror, monster horror, blood, maiming, you know, the usual

game plan.

Based on the votes, the consensus is quite clear: it's time to see if a creature that can destroy worlds can be killed. Characters are well armed from the finds in the test lab. Having recovered Weaver from the R&D wing, they have her assistance in attempting to use the MK VIII to assist with this task. The Key Extraction group found strong potions that might help to pacify the creature long enough to fight it. They have all they can hope to in this impossible fight — the idea is simple. Open the doors, distract the monster with brute force and attempt to pacify it with the narcotics they've recovered, while Weaver does what she can to get the drone restarted and hopefully in place for a killing blow.

If things go badly, though, the team has all agreed on a Plan B. If the tides start to turn, then the group will finish what Alastair started and shunt that bad boy back into space. It's not possible for them to change the trajectory, the World Eater will end up back where it started. However, it won't be in their lake anymore, so that's still some sort of a win. As Weaver is controlling the drone remotely, she will be the one in the control room, and will run the reversal routine if the attack begins to fail. Cao Pi is in charge of the radio to call if things start going south. Hopefully someone taught him how to use it!

boss battle.

Javert, Fitz, and Law (armed with a key Weaver provided him), with a coordinated use of the lockdown keys, manage to open the Portal Bay. Even with power restored, it is practically pitch dark in the room. It's as if the World Eater trapped in the portal manages to suck in and contain any light that dares get too close. They can hardly see the monster before they brave entering the room, though as they walk deeper into the darkness the group can see its shadowy form lodged in the portal. It's trapped around the torso, with only a small part of it visible to the group. Impossibly huge, and perhaps somewhat reminiscent of something that might have resembled a green eyed spirit, once, though it has started growing new extremities and limbs, as well as a few more sets of eyes. It rouses as they enter, and just looking at the World Eater manages to send an unspeakable wave of unease, anxiety, and hopelessness through the group.

Gregor, Stone and Jill throw the fragile bottles of sedative. They crack and settle on the skin and wide empty eyes of the monster. While it's clear it did not incapacitate the World Eater, the mental effects lessen and its movements seem to slow.

With that, it's a free for all, all members of the party armed to the teeth and determined to fight for all they have. The weapons recovered by Cao Pi, Link, and Reiju prove especially useful, though as they cut and slash, the World Eater seems to recover new limbs, new tendrils, seem to generate at random. Like a hydra, every piece they cut down seems to restore itself. Braving closer to its torso leaves the creature leaking toxic black blood over the floor. Touching it proves it is bitterly caustic, easily burning through rubber and clothing and flesh alike. It's a bitter, ugly battle, and not without damage to the fighters themselves.

The fight seems doomed to fail, even with the World Eater slowed and mostly immobilized. It's more than just slashes, heavy hits that can send bodies flying across the room. A flash of attention can leave an attacker immobilized, dark swirling terror clawing through them strong enough that they might try to hurt themselves or their company instead of the monster itself. Worse yet, any time the World Eater seems to lull, it seems to draw the living energy from any lantern nearby, rousing itself and dampening the fighter that might have been feverishly fighting a second before.

However, with the distraction provided, Weaver successfully reactivates the MK VIII. It sounds much like a giant sized bumble bee, until it rockets through the air toward the monster. The beast manages to swat the drone away, once, and for a moment all hope seems to be lost. Until the device lurches in the air and zooms right back to its task, landing on the monstrosity and scuttling deftly over the surface of the World Eater in attempt to find a weak spot. The battle swells, attempting to keep the World Eater from clawing the drone from its body before the drone has a chance to work properly.

It feels as if it takes hours for the drone to locate a weak point, though the reality is it doesn't take much longer than a handful of minutes. The sickening churn of flesh, bone and blood resonates in the room as the drone buries successfully inside the monster. Those lingering for the fight aren't spared, as even as the device whirls inside of it, the World Eater keeps up the fight, reaching for and lashing out at whoever remains close enough. There's no running for cover, as the fight rages until the very last.

There's no warning for when it happens. The World Eater cries out, a terrifying bellow that echoes throughout the station. With the cry comes a flash of bold light, brighter than any of them have seen since arriving in Beacon. The light builds, pushes outward, and the explosion deafens suddenly and completely. The room is bathed in light and anyone in the Portal Room is thrown to the sidelines, bouncing like ragdolls off the sturdy metal walls. The implosion paired with the light existing inside the creature floods through the room, likely to leave characters blinded and deafened for a few seconds after.

However, as they come to their senses, they find the World Eater felled, lying in multiple bloody burnt pieces. Troubling, some of them do seem to keep twitching and moving. Still, it seems to be over. The fight was not without consequences, and certainly not won easily, but it was won all the same.

return to the surface.

With the beast felled, and the party much worse for the wear, the group collects back in the submarines which have thankfully had a chance to charge this time around. The ride isn't exactly fun, but there's no alarm messages or rides in pitch darkness, at least. Even if there's still a good chance that characters might suffer decompression sickness, dizziness, queasiness, and headaches as they head back topside.

It's a battered and bruised group that makes it back to the docks. Plenty will need medical attention, and there might even be some with broken lanterns that will need to be taken to the lab and repaired immediately. Those that died in the fight will awaken in 3 days, however, there might be some consequences when they revive.

Those that are in better shape have a lot to share. What they've seen, what happened, and what should happen next. They've had a rough go of it, characters on the surface have their own oddities to share, too. There's a new guy in town, after all... And boy does he have some ideas and opinions.

ooc notes.

For refreshers on the first part of this event, please see the first event post! The results of this event are based on the voting found here. If your character was involved in the portal room fight, we have provided a comment for injury rolls here. If your character died in the fight, please head over to the Death Page to report it. Thanks for taking part in the first major event of our Next Night! It was quite a ride but we hope you had as much fun as we did!

Feel free to use this post for action tags set during the fight, as well as meeting up and sharing information with the others topside. As of this event, new NPC Weaver will be ashore with her submarine to offer her aide to the residents of Beacon after their help with the Helix Station. Keep an eye out for more from her soon! She will be staying at the docks in a submarine. If anyone has a cot a bunny can borrow, hit a girl up...

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She has to grin, the only remnant of a swallowed warning about turning that question on anyone and everyone, though it flags briefly.

"Not sure, if I'm honest."

Not a normal answer, not one she enjoys, but he deserves honesty.

He tilts his head briefly at that, thinking and having another bite of cake, then says, "Well. I don't know, either, so you're not alone in not knowing."

It's such a nice answer. Succinct, normal. She finds herself all but beaming a little, despite her best efforts. Shared sadness seems a little less sad. Were they not eating there'd be a wrist hug oncoming without a doubt.

"I'm sorry you don't either," she finally manages to reply, instead settling for a nudge to his foot. "But we're here at least, and that's not changing. That's more important. We'll mark time how we want."

"Ah, it's okay. It's gotta be some ridiculously big number, anyway," Soldat says with half a smile. "Better for everybody if we don't know for sure."

Their piece of cake might be halfway gone, already. It's pretty good, and they, as always, are starving.

They do pause to consider her last statement, though, and add, "Rather keep track of how long it's been since I got here. Since I got free."

"Think we'd have already missed it, but maybe we start celebrating the day we turned up in Beacon. For you anyway, close as any to a birthday."

Of sorts. Not like there's a wild variety of provable dates to seize upon.

"Not yet. It was September, so we're not quite there yet." Almost, though. Maybe they ought to do something for that, too, hmm. The spirits had an anniversary for the whole round, after the last reset, but probably won't care about individuals. "But you're right. Probably closest to a birthday I'm ever going to get."

"I wouldn't say ever," Misty notes gently, and pairs the point with a delicate nudge, "But it's a very…fitting one, I think. You were almost a different person entirely when you showed up. Weren't a person, or-- I mean, that's a whole thing, but you've come so far since then. I'm really proud of you, and it'd be nice to have a you-day to look forward to too."

Enough people have been tossing "person" around for long enough that they don't even twitch, just gives her a bit of a look for the slip. Since she corrects herself, though, that don't say anything. (Not like you should, anyway. Sarge. She asked you not to! ... right, that's right, she did. Ugh. No. You said it, Asset.)

The proud statement melts the last of the annoyance into a sigh and a sheepish head-duck. "Yeah, okay, I'm not quite what I was then, anymore." They'll give her that. "But I still don't think I'm likely to remember any birthdates. We'll just stick with September and leave it at that, yeah?"

"That suits me fine," she agrees, brightening proportionately to the sheepishness on display. "Celebrate growth and not numbers. You're gonna need to pick a flavor for me to work with, you need cake too."

Maybe ice cream too, if she feels ambitious. Of course she will-- a safer bet than cake anyway, without the number of trial runs she's envisioning.

"And then it won't be too far to Thanksgiving, we're rounding on holidays again," she notes, with some surprise. "Hard to feel like summer's happened at all without the sun."

It's warmer, but not at all what she would call hot.

Soldat gives a startled little twitch at the phrase "rounding on holidays again", because they don't have gifts worked out for anyone yet! Christmas can't be that soon! Are they behind??

Then the panic gets drowned under remembering what day it is. And the point their fork at Misty with a mock-irritated expression. "It's four months away. Misty. Gonna give me a damn heart attack. I'm not ready for Christmas yet."

"Your new birthday in September, Halloween in October, Thanksgiving in November, Christmas in December," she rattles off in reply, barely withholding a laugh. "I don't mean just the winter ones, it's the holiday season."

And she's twirling her fork right back.

"Cute that you'd be riled about it, though. Don't stress too much about gifts when that time comes, okay? It's about the people."

"But the people reacted so nice when they got the gifts," Soldat says, quietly, looking vaguely embarrassed. "It was. It felt good. You know? It was some of the earliest good things."

They want to feel that again. To make people smile like that again. Be that happy because of something they did.

Christ, he's cute.

"You know people feel that a lot around you, right-? You're thoughtful, you're helpful, you're doing things for people year-round. Holiday's just another time to show it off." People must statistically be smiling quite often at things he's done, or at least contributed to. But she smiles, encouraging still. "It's a good tradition to keep up, but don't think it's the only chance you've got."

It seems like making lunches and helping out with learning and protection don't quite measure up to a thoughtful, perfect, home-made gift... but Soldat confines their uncertainty to a mildly dubious expression. "Still gonna make gifts, even so."

There's... fewer people to make them for, now.

They stab the cake a little harder than necessary, but follow up by shoving a good-sized bite into their mouth, at least.

That is sulky, Soldat.

"We love you, y'know. Pretty much everybody here. We appreciate you, and we care about you, and you work hard for us." No sulking or she'll get to the nice-talking. "But gifts are fine anyway. You'll need to drop some hints so I can rustle up something for you, too."

The sulk in this case is coming from loss rather than denial of her point, at least. They duck their head a little more, not about to explain on the day they're celebrating her birthday. Instead they finish another bite of cake-- their piece is pretty much gone, now, actually-- and set the fork down to reach over and grasp her wrist. "Love you, too, Misty. I'll try to think of something you can get me." They're not at all sure what that'll be, but they'll think on it.

EVENT CONCLUSION: BEYOND THE SEA

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